


Comfort and the Truth

by Dazzledfirestar



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel 616, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Secret Avengers, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, F/M, Hand Jobs, Identity Porn, M/M, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-16
Updated: 2014-02-16
Packaged: 2018-01-12 15:40:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1190574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dazzledfirestar/pseuds/Dazzledfirestar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The rebellion against the Empire has cost a lot of people a lot of things. Some fight. Some hide in the system. Some do both.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Comfort and the Truth

**Author's Note:**

> Written for this year's [trope bingo card](http://dazzledfirestar.dreamwidth.org/141960.html#cutid1), Prompt: AU: Space and my [porn table](http://dazzledfirestar.livejournal.com/151061.html) for avengers_tables on LJ, prompt: identity porn.

He was willing to admit that fucking a dude in a mask was probably not the brightest idea he’d ever had. Clint wasn’t really that concerned though. There was something familiar about the line of his jaw, the flash in his really fantastic dark eyes. Something in there felt safe even as his hands pressed hard against the metal wall of the ship. Something about it felt like he should know who this man was or had been before the revolution sent so many of them out into the dark, away from SHIELD and the government and the Empiric Guard.

Something about this man with no name he was willing to give felt like better times.

And it wasn’t like he was the only one either. He saw Natasha and Bobbi both sneak off with the other pirates. And he was betting that Bobbi at least wasn’t getting a name. Not that that would bother her, of course. In fact, he was pretty sure his ex spy ex wife like things better that way.

That particular moment wasn’t the time to think about what they were likely doing down in the cockpit though. His partner’s hand closed possessively around his cock and Clint moaned shamelessly loud. The laugh that got him sent a bolt of pleasure down his spine. “Everybody’s going to hear you.”

“They’ll hear me on the next planet if you keep teasing me!” Clint huffed and rocked his hips into the not-nearly-tight-enough touch. 

He leaned in and claimed Clint’s lips in a deep kiss. “Nobody can hear you scream off the ship.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“Damn right it is.”

Clint grinning and bit gently at his partner’s delicious bottom lip. “If I win, will you take off the mask?”

That killed some of the sparkle in his eyes. “It’s better if you don’t know.”

“So you keep saying.”

“I mean it. It’s safer.”

“Safer? Man, you really don’t know me that well.”

“I know you better than you think.” He leaned in and kissed Clint again until any thought of the mask and the revolution floated out into open space. Clint thought for a second that that was a distinctly weird thing to hear from his anonymous lover, but by the time it occurred to him to say so, his brain wasn’t exactly firing at full speed.

~*~*~*~

Jim Rhodes was a shining example of the training and prestige of the Empiric Guard. He made his way quickly through the ranks and was liaising with the Strategic Headquarters of Interstellar Espionage Logistics Directorate before anyone could question why he was so eager to do so.

He had friends there, after all. Nick, Phil, Bobbi… and Clint. But that wasn’t something the press releases got into. Especially once the far more conservative parties gained power. The idea that their elite had something on their minds that wasn’t protecting the government was unacceptable. He remembered vividly Nick saying, far too easily over one too many drinks that he thought they could do more good from inside than out among the more vocal opposition.

Vocal opposition became a rebellion. One they were expected to quell. But that rebellion grew and swallowed their friends and people they loved whole. He’d never forget the look on Clint’s face when he asked Jim to leave with him. “Rhodey… please.”

He repeated Nick’s words. “Maybe I can do more here… from inside.” And he’d believed it. He still did.

The fact that he, Nick and Phil had taken—commandeered really—a rebel ship and went out selling supplies and arms and information on their off hours… well, nobody could know that. One slip would get them all killed, including the people they wanted to tell more than anything.

He watched Phil hang his head when they left the Winged Widow every time. He knew that, if things were different, he and Nick probably would have taken Bobbi to the nearest triad planet and made it official. But that would get her killed. Just like his feelings for Clint would make him a target. Even if he wasn’t smack in the middle of the rebel cell the Empiric Guard wanted shut down the most.

He’d ended it with Clint when he quit SHIELD. Not because he didn’t love him. He did. More than anything. But it wasn’t safe. And until things settled down, he’d have to keep the mask on.

One day though. One day, Jim promised himself he’d give into that request and take it off. He’d kiss Clint and Clint would know the truth. No more sex in the engine room of the Patriot or the cargo bay of the Widow. No, one day, Jim would do this right.

One day, they’d be able to fix this.

~*~*~*~

Nick knocked before he entered the cockpit. Natasha was staring out into the stars. “You know, don’t you.” He didn’t bother making it a question. There was no point. She’d been SHIELD’s top assassin. Thinking she wouldn’t know him and Phil and Jim just because of a mask was ridiculous.

“Of course.” She motioned toward the co-pilot seat. “I understand the necessity.” She tapped a few controls before looking at him. “Bobbi suspects too.”

“Clint?”

“Blissfully ignorant.”

He nodded. He’d figured that out too. “Things are getting complicated.”

“Things are never simple out here.”

“They want you all dead.”

“More so than they normally do?”

“Very much so.”

“Then we should make a move, shouldn’t we?”

Nick stared at her for a moment. “I miss having you around.” He smiled. “You got a plan?”

“I thought you might.” She sighed and let her head fall back against her seat. “We do have a hold full of explosives.”

“I do. And I know.”

“Tell me and everyone else in the morning then.” She let half a smile creep across her face and she lifted her head and stared out into space again. “Go get some sleep. You’re all safe here. Enjoy it while you can.” She hesitated before she continued. “You know she misses you. Both of you. She misses the way things were.”

“I know. We’ll…” he stopped. There was no point in saying they’d make it up to Bobbi for not following her when she quit SHIELD. “We’ll figure it out.”

“I’m sure you will.”

~*~*~*~

She couldn’t sleep. She should be exhausted, given their previous activities but her mind wouldn’t shut up. It was like this every time they met up with the Patriot. Too many clear answers to too many old questions staring her in the face. Familiar eyes that were too dangerous to admit to knowing.

Bobbi sighed and pushed herself out of the bunk, picking up the notes she’d taken on the explosives they were carrying. If they could get them to the Capitol… well, that really was crazy. Nobody would get that close. Not without some serious insider intel. She looked back at the man still asleep in her bunk. He’d have that intel, so would his crew mates. And maybe they’d even give it to them. It was a suicide mission of course but if it meant that the changes that needed to happen started happening… well, what were a few lives to that?

She sighed and went back to her notes, adjusting numbers as she studied them. The door to the tiny room slid open and she didn’t look up. “When are you leaving?” She asked without meeting his eye. If she were more willing to risk his life for it, she would have called them both on this charade ages ago. But having them back… even with no names and behind masks… that was enough.

“We’re not.”

That brought her attention up. “Oh?”

“Truth?”

“Can you get truth out of a masked man?”

“You can from me.”

“Okay. Truth.”

“The Empiric guard is coming for you. Soon. If you want to get those explosives to where they need to get, it has to happen there now.”

“Great, so do I get a good-bye kiss?” Something about the way he was talking seemed worth the risk. She never brought up the secrets or the masks when they showed up. It didn’t seem worth getting her hopes up, but this kind of information made her bold. “Or is it going to be like last time, Nick?”

He sighed and reached up, pulling the mask off and adjusting the patch that sat over the spot where his left eye should have been. “We’re going with you.”

She stood up, putting her arms around his shoulders and kissing him deeply. “Blaze of glory, huh?”

“It’s time.” His hands rested on her hips, pulling her closer for another kiss. “We can’t do anything else from the inside.”

Bobbi smiled. “Welcome back.” She pulled away, sitting on the edge of the bunk and sliding her fingers across Phil’s cheek and under the fabric covering most of his face. 

He blinked up at her a moment later and tensed. “Bobbi…” His hands caught her wrists and there was real fear in his voice.

“Its okay, Phil.” Nick’s voice drew his attention. The implication started to set in and he frowned but he nodded, pulling the mask off. “We should do this properly at least one more time, don’t you think?”

Bobbi frowned and shook her head. “Okay. Let’s make the most of it before things go to hell.” She leaned in, kissing Phil as Nick sat down behind her. “I missed you guys.” She whispered softly against Phil’s lips.

“We missed you too.”

~*~*~*~

“No.” Clint’s voice broke as the mask hit the table. “No!”

Jim stepped forward tentatively. “Clint… I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you. It was too dangerous when we were still in the system. I didn’t want you to be a target.”

‘I’m already a fucking target!” His eyes flashed angrily even as he turned away. “You walked the fuck away!”

“To protect you.”

“I don’t need your protection!” He turned so quickly that Jim didn’t have time to react. Clint’s fist caught his jaw and he found himself on his knees in the Widow’s galley. Before he could gain his feet again, Clint was gone.

Jim was pretty sure he deserved that.

~*~*~*~

Clint’s knuckles hurt. That’s what he had to focus on as he stalked toward the cockpit. Not on the fact that he’d been sleeping with the man that let him walk away all that time ago and he didn’t even notice. Not that he was clearly a complete idiot. Not that he’d swung out without thinking when Rhodey pulled off the mask. No, he needed to focus on the fact that his knuckles hurt. That was the least complicated thing he had to think about at the moment and it was doing just fine.

“Did you know?” The words preceded him into the small space.

Natasha didn’t look up. Her eyes were fixed on the Patriot. They were towing them in, live captures. Bait, really. An excuse to get them all planet side. They’d moved the explosives into the other ship’s cargo bay already. They’d search the Widow after all. “Yes. I knew.”

“Did Bobbi?”

“She had her suspicions.”

“And nobody thought to mention this to me?”

“We thought if you were sleeping together you’d know.” Natasha’s voice was level, cool, calm. “Is this really the time to discuss this?”

He looked up, seeing the planetary guard ahead. “No… No, I guess not.”

“Good choice.” She sighed. “It wasn’t something malicious, Clint. You know that, don’t you?”

He sulked. Just a little. He felt he was entitled to that much. “I guess.” He knew, really. He was angrier with himself for not knowing. For needing to be told. He felt like an idiot and that was not something he enjoyed, even if it was something he thought he’d be used to by that point.

The comm. line crackled to life. Bobbi had patched them into the Patriot’s system so they’d have a clear idea of what was going on when they hit the border patrol. “Identify yourself and your cargo.”

Natasha rolled her eyes. She hated this type of guard duty and hated those who lorded it over anyone else even more. She held her tongue as Phil’s voice came over the comm. stating their ranks and their ‘prisoners’ to be delivered to the capitol. If the guard didn’t buy it, they had to move quickly. Bobbi was already set up in the back. She didn’t trust the Stark tech involved in this plan to work without somebody watching over it.

He couldn’t blame her really. Teleportation was new enough to be questionable. But if they had to get off the Patriot, it was the best bet.

The silence was too much. He felt himself fidgeting. “They’re not buying it…” he whispered, despite the fact that they weren’t linked into the audio transmitters. 

Natasha turned just enough to glare at him. “Stop being so negative.”

The guard’s voice came back a moment later. “You are not cleared to enter the Capitol and your prisoners are to be delivered to Commander Hand in --- province immediately.”

“Shit. See?” Clint sighed and got up, heading back toward the cargo hold.

Bobbi was pacing. “They’re not buying it, are they?”

“Nope.”

“Fuck. They’re going to have to use this thing, aren’t they?”

“Yeah.”

Nick’s voice came through the ship’s internal comm. unit a moment later. “Auto nav. is active. Incoming, Bobbi.”

“Fuck…” She activated the device and stepped back. Fuck, fuck, fuck…” It sputtered to life slowly and a moment later, the crew of the Patriot were onboard. 

Nick got to his feet first and started toward the cockpit. “We’re going to have to fight our way out of this.”

“Stark really needs to fine tune that thing.” Phil wobbled on his feet until Bobbi wrapped her arms around him. “At least it worked.”

“Come on, sit down.” Bobbi tried to steer him toward one of the nearby benches.

Phil shook his head and stood a little straighter. “No, weapons control. Get me to a gun.”

“Stubborn bastard.”

He smirked at her. “That’s why you two love me, isn’t it?”

“God only knows why.” Bobbi rolled her eyes but dragged Phil toward the starboard gun bay.

Rhodey stared for a moment, seemingly unsure of whether to talk or just go straight into the port bay. “You going too?”

“I need a second set of hands.” Clint rubbed the back of his own neck. “You game?”

“Just like old times, huh?”

“Yeah, near certain chance of getting our asses killed. It’s a classic.”

“Clint…” Rhodey grabbed his free hand and pulled him in, pressing a tentative kiss to his lips. “I didn’t want it to be like this.”

“I know. If I had time to cool down, I’d tell you that too.” He sighed and gave himself over to the urge to kiss Rhodey again. He never did anything half assed after all, so he poured everything into the kiss until they were both light headed. If this was the last stand, he wasn’t going to waste the chance to show this man that he loved him. Even if he was royally pissed off at him. And his other persona. “Come on. Let’s go shoot down some bad guys.”

“Blaze of glory, right?”

He shrugged. He wished they’d had more time to talk things over before the fight started. He wished he’d taken things a little better. He wished he’d figured out the obvious sooner. But they’d all made careers of getting out of impossible situations so maybe they’d get a shot at all that. “Yeah, maybe we’ll call the next ship that.”

As they set themselves up, Rhodey squeezed his hand. “Don’t miss.”

Clint smiled, that warm, safe, comfortable feeling he’d associated with the masked man came back. Maybe they’d get a chance to merge that with what he remembered of Rhodey. He found himself hoping so. “Never do.”


End file.
